


Follow Me (Lead Me)

by Ohnhi56



Series: WolfShin Week 2020 [3]
Category: King's Maker (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Orchestra, M/M, erotic eye contact in music, me nerding out about orchestra, the inherent homoeroticism of playing a string instrument
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:00:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28282830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohnhi56/pseuds/Ohnhi56
Summary: Shin didn't expect to be concertmaster when auditioning for the orchestra, but sitting across from new first chair cellist, Wolfgang, made it all worth it.-WolfShin Week 2020 Day 3: Modern AU
Relationships: Wolfgang Goldenleonard/Shin Soohyuk
Series: WolfShin Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064951
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	Follow Me (Lead Me)

“Heeeyyy, Shin,” Sys slid into the chair next to him. Shin wondered if joining the orchestra was a mistake after all.

It started in the middle of summer when Shin conveyed to his good friend and designated music theory buddy, Haiyan, that while being a solo violinist was fun, he kinda missed the bustle and comradery that went with being in an orchestra. Countless rehearsals of aching shoulders, panicked faking, and undeniable musicality created bonds between the oddest of strangers. Shin had never felt anything like looking over to a stand partner who he didn’t even remember the name of and sharing a tired groan when the conductor rattled off “one more time” for the 50th time in the row.

Being a violin soloist had its own perks. Shin loved his accompanist, Yoosung; after spending thousands of hours rehearsing and travelling the world to competitions together, they grew immensely close, but it simply wasn’t the same.

So Haiyan had the bright idea to say, “My orchestra is holding our auditions this fall. You should join. I have no doubt you’d get in.”

And he was right -- maybe too right. After taking a couple weeks to prepare, Shin didn’t only manage to get in the orchestra, but he also somehow snagged the first chair, stealing Sys’ job as concertmaster, and signed off a contract that said he would be in the orchestra for a year.

However, Shin should have known better than to take advice from Haiyan; he was a violist after all. For some godforsaken reason, a majority of the rehearsals were scheduled at 6:30pm, lasting approximately 3 hours each session. He knew logically, it was to avoid scheduling conflicts as the orchestra was made up of mostly music students, but sitting there at the first rehearsal, Shin already dreaded it. He hated,  _ hated,  _ not being able to make his own schedule.

“You look a little tired there, Shin. Don’t slack already, or else I might take first chair back,” Sys teased. Shin had had the pleasure of being friends with Sys for years, as his long term private lesson teacher just so happened to be Sys’ father.

Shin smiled slyly, “Well until then, you’re stuck being my page turning slave.”

“Oh, har har.” Throwing his own music at his foot, Sys rolled his eyes and flipped through Shin’s music on the stand, “I’m surprised you’re here though. Father mentioned you were preparing for the International Vienna Competition in June, but all of a sudden you’re joining an orchestra. How are you surviving?”

“I’m not.” Truth be told, between classes, private lessons, rehearsals with Yoosung, and now practice and rehearsals with the orchestra, Shin desperately needed some “no music, me time,” but his stupid gifted kid mindset won’t let him rest.

“It’s not all that bad, though,” Shin told Sys and mostly himself, “I missed being in an orchestra.”

“Mmmm,” Sys nodded in agreeance, unzipping his case, “there’s never a dull day here.”

As if on cue, a voice bellowed, “WOLFGANG, YOU JERK, GIVE ME BACK MY BOW!”

“NOT UNTIL YOU ADMIT YOU THINK HE’S CUTE!”

Shin’s head whipped towards the commotion just in time to see a man jump off from the stage down to the audience seats. His blonde hair bounced when he landed, falling in front of his golden eyes for a second, before he laughed and ran off when another man jumped after him. Despite his reckless actions, he still held the delicate bow carefully, up high over any danger. Shin snorted at the juxtaposition; it was endearing.

“The Goldenleonard brothers.”

Shin jumped at the sudden voice right next to his ear. Grinning down beside him, Haiyan nodded in greeting, “They’re a lively duo, huh?”

“OK, RANDOLPH, I’LL GIVE YOU YOUR BOW BACK! DON’T KILL ME PLEASE!”

“That Randolph is the bass first chair.” Sys leaned and threw an arm over Shin’s shoulder, “and the blondie is Wolfgang, the new cello first chair. They’re pretty cute right?”

His eyes followed Wolfgang’s figure making its way up to the stage again, “I...suppose…”

Haiyan sighed, “Oh, to be dommed.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Screw off, Haiyan,” Sys jabbed at his side, “Shin has obviously called dibs on him, and you know I’m into Randolph.”

Shin almost choked on air, “I did not call dibs on anyone!”

“Trying to deny it, huh? Fine. I’ll go for Wolfgang then since his brother won’t give me the time of day.”

He flushed red and shifted a bit from Sys.

“That’s what I thought. You were totally eyeing Wolfgang.”

“Hmm?” From thin air golden hair and golden eyes materialized behind Shin’s seat, making him yelp -  _ actually yelp outloud _ .

He jumped even harder than when Haiyan surprised him, and his poor,  _ expensive _ violin barely stayed in his grip. If it was possible, his face burned hotter, “Um, we - uh.”

“Sorry, did I scare you?” Wolfgang smiled politely.

_ Wow, he’s pretty. _

“I just thought I heard my name.”

And in his mess of sputtering and blushing, Haiyan came to the rescue, “We were just wondering about what type of person our new cello first chair is. Especially since the cellos are on the outside this year instead of the violas.”

“Ahhh, well I was just wondering about the new concertmaster,” his eyes flashed over to Shin, “I’m Wolfgang Goldenleonard. It’s a pleasure to formally meet you all.”

“What a smooth talker,” Sys reached out for a handshake, “Sys Ulysses.”

“Haiyan Hillogriam, a pleasure.”

“Of course, I know of our long term first chair viola, and my brother told me about you, Sys.”

Sys perked up, “Randolph talks about me?”

_ Jesus Christ, while everyone is getting along, I’m sitting here sweating on my strings. I just replaced my E string; this can’t be good. _

“And you?” Wolfgang’s voice broke Shin out of his trance, “What’s your name, Mr. Concertmaster?”

Suddenly, all of the blood reddening his face drained elsewhere, and Shin’s brain stopped producing thoughts, “My name?”

He vaguely felt Sys tug on his shirt, signalling,  _ say something, Shin, you bitch. _

“Hey,” Randolph interrupted Shin’s inner panic, smacking Wolfgang in the back of the head when he did, “the conductor is here. We need to get back to our seats and tune.”

The conversation immediately ended as Haiyan, Wolfgang, and Randolph wordlessly rushed to their designated sections.

“Good evening,” their conductor greeted them, earning an echo of “evening’s” back. “To all of our new players, welcome. To returning players, welcome back. I am thoroughly excited for this year’s line up of amazing musicians, so without further ado, let’s get our first rehearsal started. Let’s get an A going.”

He motioned to Shin, who already had his violin on his shoulder. Shin lifted his right arm and bowed a long open A; after a beat, Sys began playing, and the orchestra followed in a mix of open strings.

* * *

“Here at measure 125 - and I know this should have been in my conductor’s notes beforehand, I apologize - but, seconds, I want all of this melodic line to be on the G string. Shift up and really  _ dig _ into the string when you play…”

Shin rolled his left shoulder as he mindlessly fingered through some 32nd’s he knew they were going to work on next. It was barely an hour into rehearsal, and yet his mind already couldn’t concentrate on the music. His eyes flickered to Wolfgang sitting directly across from him. He was mumbling something to his stand partner and pointing to his music; he seemed to have a permanent smile etched on his lips; he was charming, kind, and really,  _ really _ , nice to look at.

Shin was no stranger to golden eyes, but Wolfgang’s eyes were brighter than Haiyan’s. They seemed to shine and glow as if they were captured suns, and those same golden eyes looked up to meet his eye contact.

He took a sharp inhale and turned his gaze to  _ anywhere but Wolfgang - holy shit, I was staring. That’s so embarrassing. _

After failing to tell Wolfgang his name earlier, Shin was hoping he could salvage what’s left of a good impression he could make and maybe start a nice friendship or something more, but now he had ruined everything. Wolfgang must think he’s a complete creep. 

_ Hopefully, he didn’t think much of it. What if I just took a peek, just to see if he brushed it off. _

But Wolfgang was (unfortunately?) still looking at him with his eyebrow quirked, looking rather amused at Shin. Waving slightly with his left hand, he mouthed,  _ “Hi.” _

He couldn’t tell if he was blessed or cursed. Wolfgang didn’t ignore his odd staring, but he was still acting friendly towards him, even trying to silently talk to him from across the conductor's podium.

Shin gave a small smile and waved back.

_ “Name?” _

He pursed his lip, glancing at the conductor to see if he noticed their rather obvious exchange,  _ “Shin Soohyuk.” _

_ “?” _

Shin wanted to giggle at the way Wolfgang tilted his head in confusion like a puppy. He was leaning forward on his cello, and he couldn’t comment on the bad posture given their situation.

_ “Later,”  _ Shin ended up mouthing instead. They were in the middle of rehearsal, right in front of the conductor after all.

Speaking of which…

“Very nice job seconds. Now, let’s move on the 131. Remember, this part is where we build up to the 32nd’s; cellos, you have complete control here. Violas, basses, watch Wolfgang. Wolfgang, - all cellos, actually - listen to the basses; they’re giving you that drone to work your tempo up to that accelerando.”

Wolfgang a small, “Yes, sir,” before the baton went up, and everyone raised their instruments.

“Start at 130. End right at the 32nd’s.”

The orchestra took a collective breath when the baton raised, exhaling together when it went down to the beat.

Wolfgang tipped his head forward, cueing the violas on their rhythm. The cello melody was almost like a march, with every major beat being accented with vibrato. When Wolfgang craned his neck forward, moving with his instrument as if it were a part of him, both the cello and bass section swelled in volume with him, building tension for the speed up. Shin was captivated by the way he smiled to himself, nodding to the lower strings to say “ _ nice job” _ ; his leadership and musicality was  _ breathtaking _ . 

And then he shifted his focus to Shin.

_ “It’s your turn now,”  _ his eyes seemed to say. Golden eyes. Golden eyes pierced into him and told him,  _ “Go on, Mr. Concertmaster. Take control.” _

So Shin shifted his violin to be a bit higher on his shoulder, scooted to the edge of his seat, and took an exaggerated, sharp breath to catch the orchestra’s attention,  _ “Take my lead. Follow my tempo.”  _

The other section leaders breathed with him, everyone leaning in to follow suit. They started at a pianissimo, and at Shin’s liking, they grew to a comfortable mezzo-forte.

“KEEP GOING!” Their conductor yelled over the instruments.

Shin barely processed his surprise because  _ we're doing the 32nd section already? _

But Wolfgang flashed a grin full of mischief, almost egging him to lead the orchestra to go faster. Shin’s fingers danced over the fingerboard, and he thought, _“Fine. Let’s go full tempo, then, Sunshine.”_

Shin’s torso moved with the beat, the scroll of his violin motioning others to follow and speed up at his control. He relented when they finally,  _ finally, _ hit full tempo right at the 3 straight lines of 32nd notes; only then did he fall back into his seat and let muscle memory take control of his fingers and bow. Next to him, he sear Sys mumble, “Holy fuck.”

“DON’T SPEED UP. DON’T GET LOUDER YET. KEEP THIS GOING AND SAVE YOUR VOLUME.” Even the conductor was grinning cheek to cheek.

It was like a ball of energy rolling around to each section, not yet big enough to self destruct, not yet fast enough to cave in on itself.

“BIG CRESCENDO! HERE! WATCH ME HERE!”

All eyes flew up, and the conductor used both arms to signal exactly where every beat hit. At the very climax of the piece, the ball exploded. The 32nd notes stopped, but to say it was break was a lie; Shin leaned left as he pulled his bow, pushing down harder to sustain the sound. 

_ “This, _ ” he thought,  _ “was what we were building up for.” _

“OKAY, OFF.”

At the cut off, everyone fell back in their seats with a sigh. Sys elbowed his shoulder, snickering with the second violinist section leader, “First day and you already pull one hell of a speed up!”

Wolfgang laughed when Shin shot a look his way that said,  _ “This was your fault.” _

“That was fun,” Wolfgang called to him through the groans and laughter. It was cute, the way he leaned his head to touch the neck of his cello.

In hindsight, the run was messy with the accelerando catching one too many people off guard, but Shin hid his amusement behind his violin. It  _ was _ fun.

“Everyone,” In the midst of all the commotion, the conductor cleared his throat and stepped off the podium, “I introduce to you your concertmaster, Shin Soohyuk.”

The crowd erupted with spouts of, “Let’s do that again!” and “No, I can’t play that fast!” Shin should have joked with them, or at least acknowledge everyone talking to him, but his eyes were trained on Wolfgang, mouthing  _ “Shin.” _

Under his scrutiny, Shin felt more shy than he ever did with a live audience.

**Author's Note:**

> I imagined the orchestra playing Khachaturian Adagio from Spartacus, bc:  
> 1) I've played that piece, so I can sorta accurately tell the player's perspective of the god damn 32nd run  
> 2) mmmmm pretty piece
> 
> except I couldn't find the score to it and it's been 2 yrs since then, so my descriptions on who's playing and who's leading are probably wrong oops.


End file.
